Contracts, their context and the behavior of the contracting parties

Abstract

This paper raises issues related to the development of a General Theory of Contracts considering a legal reasoning based on context. The objective is to demonstrate that contracts can only be understood taking the context in which they operate into account, so that a contextualized understanding of the relationship is necessary to better define the obligations assumed by each party. Starting from the premise that the market is the context of the contract, this paper analyses the formation and the preservation of markets based on the equation of different factors. After, it examines the rationality of the behavior of the parties in a contractual relationship. The paper demonstrates that the context of the contractual relationship is an influential element both in determining when contractual obligations arise and in delimitating the contractual obligations.